Friday, February 8, 2013

What St. Paul saw on the road to Damascus, and what mystics see

5th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

[Christ]
appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, Christ appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once […] After that he appeared to James, then to
all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.

As St. Paul was traveling to
Damascus in order to persecute the Church of Christ there, he experienced a
most unique encounter with the Risen Jesus. As this event changed his own life,
so too did it change both the Church and the world forever – since it was through
St. Paul that God brought the Gospel to the nations.

However, what exactly was this
encounter on the way to Damascus? Is St. Paul’s experience comparable to a
vision? Did Jesus appear to St. Paul in the same way that he appeared to St.Faustina,
for example? Or in the same way that he has appeared to many of the saints
throughout history?

Upon consideration, we will see
that St. Paul’s experience was most unique – something which will not be
repeated until the end of time. And this is why the Apostle says that he was as
one born abnormally, because an event
like this apparition will never happen again.

When
Christ appeared to St. Peter, and when he appeared to St. Paul

St. Paul puts his own
experience of the Risen Lord in the context of Christ’s appearance to Cephas
and the other disciples. Cephas is, of course, none other than St. Peter
himself – since Cephas is the Aramaic
translation of the Greek name Petros,
both meaning “Rock”.

The appearance of Christ to St.
Paul must indeed be on par with those apparitions granted to the other
apostles, since St. Paul is surely an apostle just as they. One of the things
required to be a true apostle – in the most strict sense of the word – is to
have known Christ in his proper species (i.e. in his natural body on earth). However,
it is clear that St. Paul did not know Jesus during the time before the Ascension.

Nevertheless, when St. Paul
enumerates the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples, the
Apostle lists his own experience on the way to Damascus among these
apparitions. Just as Christ appeared to St. Peter on the first Easter Sunday,
so too did our Lord appear to St. Paul many years later on the way to Damascus.

This claim is quite bold and
truly quite surprising. For St. Paul is stating that, even though our Lord had
already ascended into heaven, the apparition which he experienced of the Risen
Christ is of the same category as those given to St. Peter and the others
before the Ascension.

The
bodily apparition of our Savior – not a vision

From this, it is clear, we must
assert that St. Paul did not have a “vision” on the road to Damascus. It was no
mere intellectual or imaginative “vision” – a purely mental reality. Rather,
just as our Savior appeared in his true and proper body before the other
apostles, so too did our Lord reveal his natural and proper body to St. Paul.

Consider the commentary of the
learned Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide:

“It appears from this verse that Christ appeared to Paul,
not by an angel, as Haymo thinks (Comment. on Apocalypse, c. ii.), but in
person; not in a vision, as He appeared to him in Acts xxii. 18, nor in a
trance, as is recorded in 2 Cor. xii. 2, but in the air in bodily form; for it
was in this way that Christ appeared to Cephas, James, and the other Apostles;
moreover, if it were any other kind of appearance it would be no proof of the
resurrection of Christ. The appearance of Christ alluded to here is the one at
Paul’s conversion (Acts ix. 3), when he saw Christ before the bright light
blinded him.”

From this fact – that Jesus
appeared in his one, natural body in which he had been crucified and which had
risen and ascended into heaven – another follows:

“Hence it further appears that Christ then descended from
heaven, for, as S. Thomas and others say, S. Paul heard the voice of Christ
speaking in the air.”

This is precisely the great
mystery of St. Paul’s election as an apostle – the Lord Jesus returned from heaven
to the earth in his proper, physical, and natural body and appeared to the
Apostle in just the same manner as he had appeared to the Magdalene outside the
tomb.

This
will never happen again, until the end of time

Speaking of the ascension of
Jesus into heaven, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (CCC 659):

“So then the Lord
Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at
the right hand of God. Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his
Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently
and permanently enjoys. But during the forty days when he eats and drinks
familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory
remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity.

“Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of
his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he
is seated from that time forward at God's right hand.

“Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus
show himself to Paul as to one untimely
born, in a last apparition that established him as an apostle.”

This is what is most unique
about the apparition to St. Paul, this is what makes it “wholly exceptional and
unique” – the Lord’s body which was in heaven returned to the earth so as to
elect Paul as the special vessel of his grace.

And now it should be clear that
the apparition to St. Paul is radically diverse from every other vision granted
to the saints. For, even if our Savior has sometimes manifested his Sacred
Humanity to visionaries and mystics, we simply cannot possibly think that his
body came from heaven to earth in its proper and natural state. This would be
the Second Coming!

Rather, whenever a mystic seems
to speak as though he has “touched” or “seen” the physical and proper body of
Jesus (i.e. Christ in his proper species as he walked upon the earth and
appeared after the Resurrection), we must understand this to be only a vision. For
none other than St. Paul has seen the proper, natural, and physical body of
Christ after the manner of the Resurrection appearances.

This is why St. Paul is an
Apostle – because he saw the risen Lord just as did St. Peter and the rest. But
this is also what makes him as an abnormal or untimely birth – he saw the risen
Jesus in this most unique and exceptional way, for the Lord returned a second
time to earth not to be seen by all (as he will in the Second Coming) but only
to be seen by this one whom he would consecrate as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

16
comments:

Father,Does this analysis apply to the Blessed Mother as well? For example when she appeared at Fatima did the children see her actually as though she came from heaven or did they merely imagine her in the same way the mystics see Christ?ThanksTom

The term "appeared" in Corinthians is ambiguous: the detailed account in Acts speaks only of a light and a voice, and does not mention a physical form. Aquinas thus says in the Adoro Te: Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,: Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. (to paraphrase, seeing not believing - only hearing is to be believed.) While Mary Magdalen did see Christ's physical body, only the voice persuaded her. - This is why the great artistic depictions do not show Christ' body but only the blinding light.

Thank you for this posting. Have you ever considered or heard discussed the idea that Saul of Tarsus could have seen Jesus in or around the Temple before the crucifixion? Saul was a student of Gamaliel who was a leading scholar in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Also since he was seemingly in charge of the execution of Stephen less than two years after the crucifixion of Christ, he probably had been on the scene for quite a while before that. I realize this is total speculation, but intriguing all the same. What if Saul was involved in some of the debates the pharisees had with and about Jesus?

@Bill,While it is true that the word "appeared" in and of itself would not lead us to necessarily conclude that Saul saw the physical body of Jesus ... the context makes this more than abundantly clear -- for St Paul sets his own encounter with the risen Christ on exactly the same level as that of Peter and the rest.

Thus, it could not merely have been a light ... no, it was a true apparition of the risen body of Jesus.

Further, the hymn of St. Thomas is speaking about Jesus' presence in the Eucharist -- a sacramental presence ... here we are speaking of the post-Resurrection apparitions.While it is the same body and the same person present, he is present according to different modes -- hence your comparison fails.

In any case ... the Fathers and Doctors of the Church say that Jesus appeared in his proper physical body to St. Paul ... the Catechism teaches the same.

@Mark,Interesting idea ... however, I think it pretty unlikely that Saul would have ever seen Jesus.In fact, he was not really the leader in the execution of Stephen but was simply a young man who was standing by and was obviously in accord with the murder -- clearly he was known as a persecutor of Christians, but it is unlikely that he had any direct involvement in the Crucifixion of Jesus.

I find it quite notable that St. Paul never states that he saw Jesus (excepting in this apparition).

In any case, do you forget that not all saw and recognized Jesus in the resurrection appearances? Did he not vanish from sight? Did he not change his form? Is it that hard to imagine that such would have happened in this case?

From your comment i concur that Christ revealed His glory more perfectly in Transfiguration than in Resurrection.

Are you thinking of the very moment of Resurrection or events postceding it? Iconography allways shows the Resurrection as a glorious event. Did Our Lord truly "let out" some of His glory at the very moment of Resurrection and then "toned it down" a bit for the upcoming events and encounters? Is there a distinction in "looks" of Christ's Body in the moment of Resurrection and after the moment?